U.s. Fights Germans` Aid To Iran

WASHINGTON — A West German chemical company has arranged the sale to Iran of several hundred tons of chemicals used in making poison gas, American and West German officials say.

The discovery of the deal, six months after American officials disclosed that West German companies were building a chemical-weapons factory in Libya, prompted a diplomatic effort by the Bush administration to head off the deliveries.

West German officials said they would take effective action.

American concern about the deal was conveyed by Secretary of State James A. Baker III in his meeting here with West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher last Wednesday, American and German officials said.

The U.S. provided details on Saturday in a message to the Bonn government, identifying a West German company based in Du sseldorf as the

``broker,`` administration officials said. The company`s name was not made public.

In the letter, the U.S. also asked for the expulsion of Said Karim Ali Sobhani, an Iranian diplomat in Bonn who, the officials said, had coordinated his country`s covert purchase of chemical-weapons supplies. West German officials said they had asked Tehran to withdraw Sobhani.

U.S. officials said the manufacturer of the chemicals to be sold to Iran was situated in India.

American and West German officials said the bulk of the order had not yet been delivered.

The American officials said the case is significant as a test of Bonn`s new commitment to deter companies from selling technology for producing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to Third World countries.

Congress is considering legislation to impose sanctions on participants in the chemical-weapons trade, and administration officials predicted that West Germany`s handling of this sale would be closely watched on Capitol Hill. U.S. officials said the latest transaction calls for the sale to Iran of thionyl chloride, an industrial chemical that can be used in the manufacture of mustard gas.

Iraq made extensive use of poison gas in its eight-year war against Iran. After a truce was agreed to last year, American officials said, the Iranians continued a major campaign to produce and stockpile their own chemical weapons.